The automotive industry is facing the challenge of bringing ever more complex functions to market maturity in an ever shorter time. Stellantis is meeting this challenge with a clear focus on a software-centric approach – and is relying on the partnership with dSPACE.
For quick readers:
The Stellantis Virtual Engineering Workbench (VEW) is a cloud-based platform for developing and validating a software-centric approach through global collaboration. By integrating software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations from dSPACE, VEW enables early error and fault detection, helping to shorten development cycles – leading to faster, more efficient, and more cost-effective vehicle development.
The density of innovation in vehicles is increasing rapidly. The continuous introduction of new functions in the areas of autonomous driving, connectivity, infotainment, and electrification leads to highly complex system landscapes. The central challenge is to integrate this multitude of functions efficiently and to manage inter functional dependencies comprehensively. Without structured development and validation processes, integration and testing costs increase exponentially – with the risk of losing out in the competition for innovative features.
A Solution to the Complexity: the Software-Centric Approach
The concept of the software-centric vehicle (SCV) is a promising approach to the structured control of the increasing variety of functions in the vehicle. It enables vehicle functions to be implemented primarily via software and continuously developed further – independently of specific electronic control unit hardware. Instead of developing a separate electronic control unit for each new function, the software is executed on a centralized hardware architecture consisting of high-performance computers (HPCs) as well as zonal and edge electronic control units. This consistent separation of hardware and software creates the basis for hardware-independent function development. At the same time, it allows continuous functional expansion – through over-the-air updates, for example – and thus significantly accelerates innovation cycles in vehicle development.
What are the goals and technological drivers at Stellantis?
“Stellantis is committed to delivering a compelling and comfortable driving experience, defined by innovative and distinctive user interactions in comfort, infotainment, and driver assistance. As a first mover, we aim to introduce new features early, setting ourselves apart from the competition," says Sangeeta Theru, Director XIL Platforms at Stellantis.
To realize these ambitions, Stellantis leverages three core technology platforms designed to deliver new functionalities rapidly, scalably, and across its diverse brand portfolio:
- STLA Brain: Central software architecture as the digital backbone for future, software-centric vehicle generations
- STLA SmartCockpit: Adaptive user interface for all 14 Stellantis brands, expandable via a digital marketplace
- STLA AutoDrive: Platform for assisted and automated driving up to SAE Level 3
"This platform strategy reflects Stellantis’ commitment to seamlessly integrating advanced software with robust hardware architectures. By combining scalable computing power with adaptable physical platforms, we deliver innovations quickly and securely – enhancing vehicle functions through over-the-air (OTA) software updates while preserving the strength of our hardware foundation,” explains Sangeeta Theru.
Rethinking Development and Validation: Design of a Workbench for SCV
The shift toward highly software-centric technology platforms at Stellantis demands a new approach to development and validation. To meet this challenge and ensure long-term economic success, Stellantis has defined three strategic goals:
- Cloud: Developers and testers worldwide access a shared workbench in the cloud to create high-quality software more efficiently.
- Virtualization: End-to-end virtualization on a large scale for development, integration, and validation with the aim of testing and validating earlier (shift left).
- Collaboration: Suppliers and partners are part of the platform and work together with Stellantis developers and testers to bring software with a high degree of maturity to the market quickly.
Working for the Future: The Stellantis Virtual Engineering Workbench
The Stellantis Virtual Engineering Workbench (VEW) is a cloud-based, scalable platform for the development and validation of vehicle functions. It provides globally distributed engineering teams with a low-maintenance working environment tailored to their tasks. A key feature of VEW is its support for both software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests – two essential methods for verifying and validating vehicle software and hardware.
By moving tests upstream into the SIL environment, large numbers of test cases can be executed in a short time as part of an automated continuous integration/continuous testing (CI/CT) process. This is a decisive advantage in view of the increasing complexity of modern vehicle software and the growing demands on test depth and coverage.
It is particularly noteworthy that the SIL environment not only supports individual ECUs, but also enables the integration and execution of entire virtual ECU networks (multi V-ECUs). This is an important success factor for an efficient shift-left strategy in the context of software-centric vehicles.
Stellantis has entered into a strategic partnership with dSPACE for defining and establishing simulation and integration platforms for today‘s and future automotive electric/electronic (E/E) architectures. Sangeeta Theru describes the collaboration as follows: "The cooperation focuses on several key areas – including the simulation artifact standardization, simulation middleware smart build and integration, XIL execution and scalable deployment, and a SIL-HIL cloud co-simulation platform based on simulation solutions from dSPACE."
The hardware architecture has been completely virtualized for use in software-in-the-loop (SIL) simulations.
Testing Without Limits: How Stellantis Uses Test Time Efficiently
One of the biggest challenges in vehicle development is carrying out extensive tests within tight time frames. The Stellantis Virtual Engineering Workbench (VEW) offers a scalable and powerful solution for this, with its simulation and validation features developed in collaboration with dSPACE and operated on powerful cloud instances. Around 4,500 test cases can currently be automated on the SIL platform every night in just eight hours. At weekends, an additional 1,000 test cases are validated on the HIL platform in around 57 hours. This staggered approach makes it possible to detect errors at an early stage and bring the software to a high level of maturity in the early development phases. Accelerated test execution and the rapid availability of results lead to significantly shorter development cycles. At the same time, the quality of the software is sustainably improved through continuous validation and close-meshed feedback loops.
SIL Meets HIL: Stellantis Creates the Perfect Test Symbiosis
A central element of the VEW strategy is the universal interchangeability of the simulation platforms for SIL and HIL. The aim was to make tests, test artifacts, and models reusable for both software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) – without additional effort or breaks.
Sangeeta Theru emphasizes: "With the SIL simulation and integration solution VEOS in combination with the HIL real-time platform SCALEXIO, we were able to create an environment that enables seamless switching between simulation platforms. This makes VEW completely platform-agnostic."
This flexibility is a decisive success factor for the efficient validation of complex vehicle software architectures – regardless of the respective development status of the electronic control units.
Conception and setup of a platform for the virtual validation of complex vehicle systems at Stellantis.
One Year of Virtual Validation with VEW: Foundation for Success
The Stellantis Virtual Engineering Workbench (VEW) has been in productive use for around a year and plays a central role in validating the new vehicle software architectures with STLA Brain, STLA AutoDrive, and STLA SmartCockpit. The focus here is on high-performance computers (HPC), zonal electronic control units, and edge ECUs.
VEW enables flexible test strategies: software-in-the-loop (SIL) with virtual electronic control units (V-ECUs), hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) with real hardware or hybrid approaches that combine both worlds. This versatility makes it possible to validate different stages of development efficiently and in an integrated manner. The early use of SIL tests, in particular, plays a decisive role in overcoming the increasing complexity of systems. The effectiveness of SIL-based validation can be demonstrated by the following impressive key figures:
- 100% of nightly builds are tested automatically – proof of the high efficiency, consistency, and reliability of SIL simulation in the development process.
- 80% of system integration tests are carried out using SIL simulation – this reduces hardware costs and lowers infrastructure costs.
- 86% of software errors are already identified in the SIL test – early error detection that saves time, conserves resources, and sustainably improves quality.
In addition, development and deployment times for SIL test environments are significantly reduced, enabling faster iteration and validation of new functions. Co-simulation of real and virtual electronic control units enables integration tests to be carried out at an early stage and errors in complex system structures to be detected at an early stage. A particular added value of the SIL simulation for the engineers at Stellantis: You can start testing the software up to a year before close-to-production hardware is available.
"Compared to traditional development processes, we expect that VEW reduces time-to-market by up to 50% and lowers development and validation costs by 250%. This positions Stellantis as a pioneer in SCV transformation **," says Sangeeta Theru, summarizing the success. She adds: "Being on the market earlier with new functions and validating them with less effort leads to a clearly positive assessment of the investment in the VEW."
Summary: How Stellantis Masters Complexity with VEW
The XIL platforms on the VEW, developed jointly with dSPACE, mark an initial step in virtual vehicle development. The seamless combination of SIL and HIL tests in a scalable cloud-capable platform shortens development times, increases test coverage, and reduces costs in the long term.
The partnership between Stellantis and dSPACE is an example of how technological innovation and strategic collaboration are driving the transformation to software-centric mobility. VEW not only stands for efficiency and quality, but also for a paradigm shift in the way vehicles are developed, tested, and continuously improved.
With VEW, Stellantis is ideally positioned to meet the challenges of the SCV future – agile, scalable, and technologically leading.
With kind permission of Stellantis
dSPACE MAGAZINE, PUBLISHED MARCH 2026
This article was written in close collaboration with Sangeeta Theru
Sangeeta Theru
Sangeeta Theru is the Director of XIL Platforms at
Stellantis in Auburn Hills, USA. In this role, she is
responsible for key aspects of the development
and validation strategy for software-centric
vehicles (SCVs), particularly in connection with
the Virtual Engineering Workbench (VEW).
Task
- Goal: Streamline development & validation of complex software-defined vehicle functions
- Purpose: Deliver innovative features to market faster and with greater reliability
Challenge
- Increasing system complexity due to rapidly growing software-driven functions
- Shorter development cycles compared to classic vehicle platforms
- Scalable collaboration with thousands of internal and external developers
- Consistency across hardware and software development processes
Solution
- Virtual Engineering Workbench (VEW): Scalable cloud-based development & validation platform
- Integrates software-in-the-loop (SIL) & hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing
- dSPACE VEOS as the SIL platform
- dSPACE SCALEXIO as the HIL platform
- Early testing with virtual ECUs (individual & combined)
- Seamless switching between SIL & HIL for realistic real-time testing
- Global collaboration via the cloud
Advantages
- Early error detection: 86% of software errors are already identified in the SIL test.
- Faster development: Time-to-market reduced by up to 50%
- Validation expenses reduced by 250%
Interview: What role do SIL and HIL play in the validation of SCV?
A classification by Sangeeta Theru.
SCV makes software-based vehicle functions significantly more complex, so that SIL becomes necessary in order to develop them efficiently and economically. The central control units (HPCs) have a very extensive software stack; validation in the SIL test ensures that the software-software integration, which is also significantly more complex, can be reliably validated before the software-hardware integration takes place.
In addition to the classic role of HIL tests, HIL validation will also contribute to the efficient validation of functional OTA updates for vehicle functions already in the field.
What advantages does SIL offer over HIL?
Sangeeta Theru:
SIL simulations offer significant advantages for the development and validation of control software. They are cost-efficient, as no special hardware is required, and can be used at an early stage of development – even before the control unit hardware is available. They also offer impressive scalability: The number of simulations can be flexibly adjusted, for example, by using cloud resources (“Scale Right”).
Early usability enables significantly faster identification of errors. This not only reduces development risks, but also significantly lowers the costs of fixing them. In addition, the virtual development and test environment (VEW) offers the possibility of reproducibly simulating error states in complex chains of effects.
Will HIL be replaced by SIL?
Sangeeta Theru:
In previous development projects, tests were certainly carried out on the HIL, which would also be suitable for SIL validation. The improved hardware-software abstraction in SCVs and the availability of SIL simulations ensure that HIL resources are freed up.
At the same time, the HIL test will remain an integral part of our validation strategy. Timing tests and hardware-specific effects only become visible here. And the HIL test is still more cost-effective than vehicle tests.
Total Cost Aspect – What are the advantages of SIL?
Sangeeta Theru:
The introduction of SIL naturally involved investments to initially develop the environment and enable the creation of virtual electronic control units. However, we are convinced that the increase in efficiency resulting from the aforementioned advantages, which we can now use in day-to-day development operations, clearly outweighs this initial investment.
**This communication may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially.
